Joe Rogan impressed, ESPN skeptical, Strickland left chaos with Israel Adesanya win

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• Israel Adesanya: The next Anderson Silva
• Joe Rogan wishes he’d been there for Strickland vs. Adesanya
• ESPN was less impressed
• Join the new Bloody Elbow

UFC 293 wasn’t really set up to be anything special. What had been promised to be a major grudge match between champion Israel Adesanya and challenger Dricus du Plessis became what looked to be a filler fight for the title; ‘The Last Stylebender’ taking on #6 ranked Sean Strickland, simply because Strickland happened to be the only top middleweight coming off a win and who the champ hadn’t already beat.

A promising flyweight battle between Kai Kara-France and Manel Kape fell apart, and the co-main event between Tai Tuivasa and Alexander Volkov didn’t hold the promise of being all that competitive. What followed, however, has sent a shock through the MMA system.

Israel Adesanya: The next Anderson Silva

Sean Strickland reacts to his win over Israel Adesanya at UFC 293. – DAN HIMBRECHTS IMAGO/AAP

When Israel Adesanya first stepped into the Octagon, comparisons to Anderson Silva were quick on the tongues of MMA pundits, even as they felt terribly misplaced. Sure he was a rangy, slick striker with tricky technique and some surprising power, but his talent was much more rooted in traditional technique, and in creating counters off of persistent offense.

It’s a credit (and perhaps something of a curse) then, that Adesanya truly did fight his way into the Anderson Silva conversation. Much like Silva, he made staying active a priority. The title defenses started to stack up, and even just by the time he lost his belt to Alex Pereira, he’d already had a longer, more successful reign than any other champion in middleweight history other than the ‘Spider’.

At the same time, much like Silva, Adesanya started to develop a reputation for idiosyncratic performances in the Octagon. Sometimes he looked like a legend, sometimes he looked like he was barely hanging on. It’s hard not to think of the Brazilian’s remarkable first fight against Chael Sonnen when contextualizing Adesanya vs. Strickland. Only in this version, Strickland didn’t blow it all in the final seconds. In this version, the ‘Bad Guy’ won it all.

Joe Rogan wishes he’d been there for Strickland vs. Adesanya

2010 was still smack-dab in the middle of the glory days for UFC commentator Joe Rogan. At the time, joined by Mike Goldberg, the now-famed podcaster was on hand for just about every single fight on every single card the UFC had to offer. So of course, Rogan was on hand for Silva’s stunning comeback win.

These days, however, Rogan is something of a selective attraction for the world’s largest MMA promotion. He only works PPVs, and even then, only domestic cards inside the US-of-A. So when it came to UFC 293, Rogan was firmly ensconced in his studio watching on TV, just like the average fan. A decision he might just be regretting slightly, having seen where the night ended up.

“Unbelievable,” Rogan said of Strickland’s win during his UFC 293 ‘Fight Companion’ web show (transcript via MMA Mania). “He did it. That wild motherf—ker is the world middleweight champion of the world. God I wish I was there. I wish I was there for that.”

To Rogan’s mind, Sean Strickland won every single round, including the second. “All those significant strikes, that’s all nonsense,” Rogan said of Adesanya’s round 2 success. “You’re looking at leg kicks that get checked, you can’t count those as significant strikes.” The fact that things became so one-sided left Rogan in awe, especially given that Adesanya is still in his prime.

“What world are we living in,” Rogan added. “Wow, he did it. He’s got the UFC middleweight championship around his waist, he beat the best ever in his prime. After he lost to Pereira … unbelievable. Unbelievable.”

ESPN was less impressed

Perhaps it’s something of an opposite end of the same chaotic continuum that ESPN can’t seem to handle Israel Adesanya’s loss. If Rogan sounds dumbstruck by the idea that Sean Strickland is now middleweight champion of the world, the UFC’s media broadcast partner just looks dumb.

ESPN is one among a series of outlets that have decided to create an independent (ish) ranking systems for the broader MMA world. With the UFC running rankings for their own fighters, ESPN hopes to create a more contextualized flavor. Let’s just say it’s a good thing that nobody actually needs these things to make sense.

With only one fighter in their MW top ten from outside the UFC, it seems like Sean Strickland’s victory over the man broadly considered to be the best 185er in the world would carry a lot of weight. Apparently not.

That’s right folks. No you don’t need glasses, yes you’re reading that right. Mopping the floor with Israel Adesanya for the bulk of five rounds bumped Sean Strickland all the way up #5 in the ESPN rankings. As for Adesanya? A devastating, potentially legacy changing loss that absolutely nobody saw coming dropped him all the way down to #1 from #1.

Here’s ESPN’s attempt to explain the madness:

Israel Adesanya did not look like the better fighter when he was inside the Octagon with Sean Strickland at UFC 293.

But that was just one night, and over the long haul, one bad performance does not define a fighter any more than one good performance does.

So despite Strickland now owning the UFC middleweight belt, Adesanya remains at the top of the 185-pound heap in the latest ESPN divisional rankings.

Strickland moves up in the top 10 — but he remains far from the top.

ESPN giving Whose Line is it Anyway a run for the nonsense scoring title.

It’s not hard to see the broad outline of their argument. Adesanya has beat the majority of the top 10 at one point or another. Strickland wasn’t supposed to win, and the world he left behind is undoubtedly a difficult one to find sensible footing. But, this just feels wrong on a deep down gut level.

Sure, Strickland lost to Cannonier, but that was a dreadfully close, near even fight. But, turning around and beating a fighter the ‘Killa Gorilla’ could barely take a round from has to be worth more than that razor thin loss on Strickland’s record.

If the excuse is all about the “long haul,” then what is Whittaker doing ranked below Du Plessis? Sure Dricus knocked him cold, but “one bad performance does not define a fighter any more than one good performance does.” Whittaker was a champion and his second fight with Adesanya was razor close.

Give more weight to the individual victories or reward the career accomplishments, but ESPN should keep it consistent whichever way they want to go. Sean Strickland’s victory at UFC 293 has unquestionably blown minds and left a much less sensible world in its wake. Hopefully whatever title fight comes next creates some badly needed clarity around here.

‘Gates of fire’ – Strickland’s coach reveals secret to beating Israel Adesanya

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• Eric Nicksick shares message from Israel Adesanya
• Erick Nicksick breaks down how to fight Israel Adesanya
• Join the new Bloody Elbow

As hard as it still may be to believe, Sean Strickland utterly out-classed Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 this past Saturday. The Xtreme Couture talent stood toe to toe with the UFC middleweight champion for every minute of five rounds and, by the end of the second round, was winning pretty much every exchange.

Outside of Strickland’s friends and teammates, it was a result few saw coming. Israel Adesanya hasn’t exactly been unbeatable in the UFC, but a lot of what has been necessary to defeat him in the past has come through a combination of size and power that Strickland just did not seem to possess. The fact that he was able to shut down the ‘Last Stylebender’ so completely was a shock. But, it just might be that homework and coaching were the secrets behind the win.

Eric Nicksick shares message from Israel Adesanya

Xtreme Couture head coach Eric Nicksick has already been soaking up a lot of praise for his obvious preparation work in getting Strickland ready to fight for UFC gold. However, in a recent interview with Morning Kombat, he shared a little extra kudos he got from none other than Israel Adesanya himself.

“I also still felt [Adesanya] was still dangerous,” Nicksick admitted when talking about Strickland’s success. “There were some things that Sean was doing that I felt Izzy was setting him up for. Man, it was actually kind of a cool moment. I had a good talk with Izzy after the fight was over, in the back. Izzy came up to me, he was like, ‘You saved that man’s life.’ And I was like, ‘Oh yeah? How so?’ ‘Because you kept calling out my reads.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, because I saw what you were setting up.’

“One of the things was the southpaw drop step. Izzy orthodox, drops back into southpaw—drop step into southpaw—he would throw his southpaw cross at Sean’s right hand. And Sean was parrying it, like this [waves hand]. And I yell at Sean, I go, ‘Bro, he’s going to same side head kick you. It’s gonna come right behind it.’ I yelled it out and Izzy heard me yell it, and he’s like, ‘Holy shit, you called out my reads.’

“So, a lot of it was, I would know Izzy would start one way, and he has such a good juke-step to the other side and has this incredible calf-kick from there. A lot of that stuff we did with Danny, was emulating Izzy, was a lot of the movement and theory and stuff. Once we started to disrupt the timing and the rhythm, I felt like we had Izzy where we wanted him. I just felt like, yeah, you could say he was stuck in the mud, but he was stuck in the mud for a reason. Because we threw his ass in the fuckin’ mud.”

Erick Nicksick breaks down how to fight Israel Adesanya

A championship level fight isn’t won all on calling moves and making reads in the moment, however. There has to be some level of preparation. One of the hardest parts of keeping a title in the UFC is the fact that so many fighters, coaches, and camps are focused on finding ways just to beat the champ. For Nicksick, he feels they had the recipe right by the time Alex Pereira made his bid for the belt against Israel Adesanya.

“I felt like I did it, as an analyst, with Alex and Izzy in the first fight,” Nicksick said when asked how long it took him to solve Adesanya’s game. “I kind of broke the code on the movement. Think about the Battle of Thermopylae, right? The ‘Gates of Fire’ is to funnel a strong army into a narrow corridor. And that’s how the Spartans were able to beat the Persians, right?

“So, how can we do that, was the cage control and funneling. And I started to see that. I talked about it prior to the Alex Pereira fight. How could he beat him? That’s how you beat him. You have to be able to limit his movement and put him in a scenario where you know his only options are left, right, or panic-wrestle. And very rarely are you going to get a panic-wrestle out of [Adesanya].

“So, now, when it comes to your strikes, you don’t want to throw things—you might have heard me say, I want to aim everything at his chest. Because the chest doesn’t slip, the head does,” he continued. “I could hit him here. If I could find his chest, the next punch will find his head. So, a lot of funneling; not ‘throw’ punches, ‘place’ punches. Place punches to where you can funnel the strikes to where it’s going to matter, where you’re going to land.

“I think with enough tape, and enough time in the cage, you’re going to start understanding where he feels he’s most comfortable. I use the analogy that he’s a conductor to an orchestra. And that’s very true. He is that man. He knows where all the instruments go. But our job is to take the conductor stick out of the hand and disrupt the rhythm and throw some shit in there that takes away the harmony that he’s so accustomed to.”

Nicksick went on to give a lot of praise to Israel Adesanya’s feints and to the strength of City Kickboxing’s coaching team and what they’ve brought to all their fighters. For him, getting Strickland to disrupt Israel Adesanya’s feints and rhythm was a key to their success.

For the moment, it seems that Israel Adesanya will have to take what lessons he can from this loss and turn it around into a new camp, at least if Dana White is to be believed. The UFC president sounded bullish on the idea of an instant rematch for the Nigerian-born New Zealander. But it sounds like he’ll need to come in to that second fight with a dramatically different plan if he wants to win.

Dana White reveals plan for Israel Adesanya

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• Dana White wants rematch for Israel Adesanya
• Daniel Cormier doesn’t like instant rematch
• Eugene Bareman already planning the comeback
• Dricus Du Plessis agrees with Cormier
• Join the new Bloody Elbow

UFC 293 was a shock to the established order of the middleweight division. We all knew that Alex Pereira could be kryptonite to Israel Adesanya’s championship kickboxing style. But Sean Strickland? This was the kind of booking that had many fans and pundits (and maybe even Adesanya himself) looking ahead to whoever might be next down the line.

Walking away from the event, the question is no longer ‘who’s the next title challenger for Israel Adesanya?’ Instead it’s What’s next for the former champion. If Dana White is to be believed, however, the promotion has a plan.

Dana White wants rematch for Israel Adesanya

Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland trade shots at UFC 293. DAN HIMBRECHTS IMAGO/AAP

All credit where credit is due for Israel Adesanya. For the bulk of his UFC career, the ‘Last Stylebender’ has been a dominant force in the middleweight division. Sure, he’s had a couple lackluster fights here and there, but up until this point he had never met a man at 185 lbs that he couldn’t find some way to overcome. That said, it’s still a bit of a surprise to hear White say that he wants to run back Strickland vs. Adesanya right away.

“No, I think you do the rematch, absolutely,” Dana White told reporters when asked if they would consider booking Adesanya in a non-title fight next. “The rematch is interesting. That could be the thing, too. When you think about, you’re going into the Pereira fight—such a big fight—and you’ve been in there with this guy so many times, and then you overlook Strickland.”

Assuming that an instant title fight rematch is what Adesanya wants, then it seems like he’s in position. At the very least, UFC brass seems unlikely to turn the idea down. But, not everyone is quite so thrilled by the idea. Former two-division champion and current broadcast booth member Daniel Cormier gave his thoughts on the idea of Strickland vs. Adesanya 2.

Daniel Cormier doesn’t like instant rematch

For all Sean Strickland’s shocking success at UFC 293, it has to be noted that Israel Adesanya did not look much like himself. While he’s never been shy about taking the back foot, the City Kickboxing star was notably lackluster in his willingness to try and punish his opponent for walking him down. The Nigerian-born New Zealander banked all his offense on low kicks and looping hooks, both of which Strickland dealt with consistently.

When it became clear that Adesanya would have to adjust his approach if he was going to find a way to win, he appeared utterly incapable of doing so. It’s for that reason that UFC talking head Daniel Cormier feels the promotion shouldn’t run to put the former champ back in contention.

“The last time Izzy lost, all we could talk about was he should be next again. I don’t think that this time,” the color commentator said during the UFC 293 broadcast. “I don’t think he should fight for a belt next time. I don’t think he should get an automatic rematch. I think the division needs to move on a little bit… Sean Strickland now opens up the possibility for so many fresh matchups.”

“Adesanya didn’t look as good. I feel like he was tired Cormier added. And that is why I won’t be politicking for him to get a title fight,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “I don’t think that Izzy should fight for the belt next. I think Izzy should take some time. He should rest, let the division shake out a little bit and then come back.

Eugene Bareman already planning the comeback

If fans are looking for signs from Adesanya as to what might be next, the best place to look right now may just be his head coach. Eugene Bareman has never been shy about giving his opinion as to what the UFC should be doing and how the business end of the sport tends to work.

When asked about White’s interest in making the rematch happen, Bareman already had some feelings for what his fighter would need to do differently.

“Israel has to inflict more pain and damage on this man,” Bareman said in a recent interview with Submission Radio. “And what that’s going to mean is we have to find a way to do it and minimize how much harm we kind of put in front of them. Because when you try to hurt someone, the cost of that is that you’re putting yourself in harm’s way for a little bit.

“And our job is to find a way that you can stay just inside enough to inflict some proper damage but still mitigate the risk. And so, you’re going to see a fight. You’re going to see a real good fight, an intriguing rematch against a great opponent and a great team.”

Dricus Du Plessis agrees with Cormier

Not one to sit idly by and watch his title hopes slip away, fast rising star Dricus Du Plessis had some thoughts of his own as to what the UFC should do next. The South African had been penciled in for Strickland’s place on UFC 293, but couldn’t make the 2-month turnaround the promotion wanted following his win over Robert Whittaker in July. Strickland stepped up to take his place, and chaos ensued.

However, as far as Du Plessis is concerned, his spot as the no. 1 contender should be beyond dispute.

“Well what an upset!” Du Plessis wrote in a post to his Instagram. “Don’t think for one moment I’m impressed in any way but congratulations on becoming champion and beating the Kiwi/Chinese/Nigerian [Sean Strickland].

“Myself & [Sean Strickland] had the biggest upsets of 2023 & I am undoubtedly the nr 1 contender so let’s settle this like men whenever wherever. After that I’ll give [Israel Adesanya] his well deserved hiding on my home soil South Africa.That being said don’t want to beat the amateur that fought on Saturday night I want to beat the best [Israel Adesanya] so take some time and get your shit together.”

Of course, the other x-factor at play here is an upcoming fight between Paulo Costa and Khamzat Chimaev. While Costa wouldn’t have seemed like a likely title fight recipient for Adesanya, even with a win over Chimaev, both men have the chance to be in reach of the belt now that Strickland is champ.

UFC 293: Adesanya vs. Strickland – Fights to make

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• UFC 293: Fights to Make
  • Sean Strickland
  • Israel Adesanya
  • Alexander Volkov
  • Manel Kape
  • Justin Tafa
• Join the new Bloody Elbow

I dunno about this one, guys. UFC 293 was just one hell of a weird night. Israel Adesanya put on a miserable performance, leading what can only be thought of as one of the biggest upsets in UFC history. As a result, Sean Strickland is the middleweight champion. Alexander Volkov beat the brakes off Tai Tuivasa, and Manel Kape went life and death with Felipe dos Santos. The rest of the main card didn’t matter at all.

So, is the UFC really going to run Izzy right back into the rematch with Strickland off a fight like that? Is there anything for Volkov to do but keep treading water? And why the hell is Kape so damn angry all the time?

To answer those questions—and a lot more—I’ll be using the classic Silva/Shelby fight booking methodology from the UFC of years past. That means pitting winners against winners, losers against losers, and similarly tenured talent up against one another. Hopefully, by following that model, a few of these bout ideas will actually make it off the page and into the Octagon. Now, let’s get to the fights!

UFC 293: Fights to Make

SEAN STRICKLAND

Words I absolutely never thought I would type, but Sean Strickland is the UFC middleweight champion. It wasn’t some kind of fluke; no magic act or miracle moment. Israel Adesanya got absolutely outclassed by Strickland in a pure kickboxing bout. Credit to the Xtreme Couture talent, he brought his A-game, walking Adesanya down with relentless pressure, popping the jab and the front kicks, lining up the occasional big right hand. Strickland’s defense was on point as well, limiting Adesanya’s chances to low kicks and the rare surprise hook.

The fact that—to go along with Strickland fighting a rock solid fight—Israel Adesanya showed up with an incredibly miserable gameplan can’t be overlooked. With the possible exception of his bout against Romero, Adesanya has never looked worse. That doesn’t change a thing though. Strickland earned his title.

Just assuming he beats Paulo Costa. – Joe Camporeale IMAGO/USA Today

Personally, this would be the point where I’d say book Strickland vs. Du Plessis. Or, because I hadn’t even considered this idea until someone else brought it up, book Izzy vs. Du Plessis and book Strickland vs. the Costa/Chimaev winner. Dana White, however seems already sold on the idea of an immediate rematch. Which, I get it, Adesanya has been a title holder for a while now, he’s been active, and he avenged his last title defeat in incredible fashion. He’s also clearly the biggest draw in the division. Wasting that fact in his prime would be a little silly. Given the chance, I’d book Strickland vs. the Costa/Chimaev winner, but we’ll probably see Strickland vs. Adesanya 2.

ISRAEL ADESANYA

Well, I kind of already gave my point away here in the Sean Strickland write up, but I still feel like I should use this space to say something. First and foremost, what the hell dude!? Everyone and their dog knew that Israel Adesanya would start this fight on the back foot and Sean Strickland would fight it on the front foot. Once that dynamic was set, however, Adesanya seemed to have zero ideas of how to change it.

No reason we can’t still do this one. – Stephen R. Sylvanie IMAGO/USA Today

He threw looping shots when Strickland went straight down the pipe, ensuring that practically none of his punches landed, and zero landed clean. Every time he pushed forward, Strickland flailed and failed to counter. But, Adesanya could only make himself do it in short bursts, and rarely trusted himself to lead with meaningful offense. Abus Magomedov may have crumbled harder, but he also put a hell of a lot more offense on Strickland while he did it. Opportunities were there and Adesanya took none of them.

The fact that he’ll almost certainly get an immediate title rematch off of this doesn’t really sit well with me. Losing 4 of 5 rounds to the new champion shouldn’t be grounds to get right back in there and do it again. This wasn’t one big shot that KO’d Izzy or a crazy submission in a scramble. He got out-fought in his own A-game. If I had it my way, Adesanya would fight Dricus Du Plessis. Make that grudge match happen, put it on the same PPV as Strickland vs. Chimaev (assuming he bulldozes Costa), so that things can be switched up in case of injury. That just makes good sense to me.

ALEXANDER VOLKOV

This was always going to be a miserable matchup for Tai Tuivasa. Fighting a huge, rangy kickboxer with a style almost purely built to bang it out in the pocket? Not a winning combo. Given Volkov’s incredible durability as well, it just seemed like opportunities for Tuivasa to end things with a single bomb would be few and far between. Credit to the Aussie, he found some great success with his low kicks early in round 2. But it wasn’t enough to turn the tide, especially not when Volkov started picking them off to dump Tuivasa to the mat.

We gotta do this now while it still makes sense. – Stephen R. Sylvanie IMAGO/USA Today

That kind of dominating win should keep Volkov in the conversation for a top 5 opponent again. We’re probably going to see Aspinall fight Ciryl Gane and Pavlovich might just get the next title shot. But, Curtis Blaydes is about to face Jailton Almeida and the winner of that wouldn’t be a bad fit. Volkov already fought Blaydes, but I could stand having that one run back, and Almeida vs. Volkov would be a fascinating fight. Otherwise, the obvious option is the Derrick Lewis rematch. I guess, karmically, that last one makes too much sense to pass up. Derrick Lewis vs. Alexander Volkov 2. The first fight was too wild to never see it again.

MANEL KAPE

Obviously, with as many cancelled fights as Manel Kape has had lately, he had to take this one. But to that end, this was a dangerous as hell booking for him to agree to. All downside, no upside against a fighter like Felipe Dos Santos—who had nothing to lose as a 22-year-old coming in on short notice for his debut. And credit to the Brazilian, he may not have come close to winning, but he showed everyone his potential for every minute of 3 rounds and never let Kape take his foot off the gas for a moment. Kape threw everything but the kitchen sink at ‘Lipe Detona’, and the kid just would not stop going after him.

After the bout, ‘Starboy’ made it clear that there’s still only one thing on his mind: a bout against Kai Kara-France. The City Kickboxing talent was meant to meet the former RIZIN champ on this card, before a concussion forced him to withdraw. Kape has only seemed entirely furious with that turn of events and seems to want to make absolutely sure that ‘Don’t Blink’ doesn’t end up avoiding him. Kai Kara-France vs. Manel Kape is the fight to make, before Kape gets so mad he goes on another rant nobody wants to hear.

JUSTIN TAFA

An absolutely clubbing win for Justin Tafa. We almost got the horror show of another eye poke stoppage early on, fortunately Tafa recovered this time. He still struggled a little with Austen Lane’s size at times, but once he found his way past Lane’s reach, everything got a whole lot easier…

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UFC 293: Fighter misses weight for first time in 4 events

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• Shane Young nearly 4-pounds over for tonight’s UFC 293
• Shane Young focused on mental health in UFC career
• Join the new Bloody Elbow

It’s been nearly a month since a fighter last missed weight for a UFC event. Maybe not the rarest of streaks (we also went three events without a weight miss back in the spring), but surprising enough to be worth noting. We almost could have been treated to an entire four-event run without a weight miss, but that streak ended with one fighter on Friday morning in Australia.

The official weigh-ins for tonight’s UFC 293 took place on Friday, September 8th. Fortunately for fans, both the middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, and title contender Sean Strickland hit the mark under the 185 pound limit. The same could not be said for Adesanya’s teammate, Shane Young, further down on the undercard however.

Shane Young nearly 4-pounds over for tonight’s UFC 293

City Kickboxing has established something of a reputation for making weight under the guidance of nutritionist Jordan Sullivan. Between Israel Adesanya, Alexander Volkanovski, Tyson Pedro, Carlos Ulberg, Kai Kara-France, Brad Riddell, and Dan Hooker, not one fighter in the camp had missed weight during their UFC career. Not until Young.

Despite coming in at 149.75 for his featherweight (146-pound limit) bout against Gabriel Miranda, Young looked surprisingly drained stepping on the scales.

Shane Young misses weight (149.75) #UFC293 pic.twitter.com/NOYTayouX1

— Submission Radio (@SubmissionRadio) September 8, 2023

As a result of his miss, Young has been fined 30% of his show purse. The bout will go ahead at a 149.75-pound catcheweight. ‘Smokin’ Shane enters UFC 293 on a 3-fight losing streak, with losses to L’udovit Klein, Omar Morales, and Blake Bilder. For Miranda, this bout will mark the 33-year-old’s first fight at 145 lbs in the UFC. The Brazilian debuted at lightweight against Benoit Saint-Denis in September of last year, but has not fought since losing that bout via TKO in round 2.

Shane Young focused on mental health in UFC career

A member of the Ngāti Kahungunu Maori community, Shane Young has been focused throughout his UFC career on highlighting the value of counseling and community and the importance of mental health and suicide awareness. Back in 2019, Young highlighted his own struggles.

“I went through all this stuff battling my demons perceived or otherwise. I took myself to real depths,” he explained in an interview with New Zealand’s One News.

“Now I am on the upside of that, I knew it was going to come but it is interesting all the benefits I’m getting from it [talking about mental health] – both in the real world with how people are treating me and how I am treating myself.”

A year later, during his media appearances surrounding his fight at UFC 253, Young took some extra time to detail his interest in raising mental health awareness in his community.

“I realized I want to use this platform to help spread my Maori culture—Polynesian and indigenous cultures—and spread more awareness around mental health in men. Because, in New Zealand, it’s really bad. As I said in my last fight, we’ve got the highest youth suicide rates and highest suicide rates in males…

“What really pushed me to want to speak on it is, a few people close to me took their own lives… kids 11 took their own life. And then a 9-year-old girl took her own life… I was like, ‘Bro, someone needs to say something.'”

Young vs. Miranda takes place on the early prelims of UFC 293. The PPV card is expected to be headlined by Israel Adesanya’s middleweight title defense against Sean Strickland.

‘F—k school’ – Israel Adesanya outlines life plan for his kids

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• Israel Adesanya reveals his education plan
• Israel Adesanya doesn’t want his kids socially isolated
• Israel Adesanya visited his childhood school in Nigeria
• Join the new Bloody Elbow

It’s safe to say that Israel Adesanya didn’t have a typical childhood. Born in Nigeria, he moved to New Zealand at age 10, with what were apparently his parents’ hope of providing him with a better education. Eventually, while the ‘Last Stylebender’ ended up going to college for computer design, the lure of a combat sports career proved far stronger than a potential future of office work.

Perhaps that kind of history and mentality explains the 34-year-old UFC champion’s outlook on education. Notably, he doesn’t sound particularly sold on the idea that kids need to be going to public schools to learn their ABCs and 123s.

Israel Adesanya reveals his education plan

In an interview clip recently making the rounds, Israel Adesanya highlighted his thoughts on education. Most notably that he didn’t feel like he got a lot of use out of his and, when he has kids of his own, won’t be sending them into the public school system.

“F—k school,” Adesanya stated. “I don’t even know why we still have this whole f—king, just this outdated concept of school to just build workers. Because we know what the f—k school was made for. Why are we pretending? We know school was created to create workers.

“Bro, what the fuck is ‘X’? Bro, I’m still waiting, still. I’m like, when have I in my life as an adult known what the f—k ‘X’ is? No f—king idea. A lot of useless information passed on to me in school. And I sucked at school because I was s—t at memorizing. I didn’t really learn anything—dropouts, as we do…

@octagonworld

Israel Adesanya saying school is waste of time 📚🚫 #octagonworld #foryou #viral #trend #trending #foryoupage #israeladesanya #foryou #viral #trend #viraltiktok

♬ original sound – MMA World

“School doesn’t teach you much, honestly,” he continued. “It teaches you the basics. I understand math, yes, English, comprehension, all that kind of stuff. But when it come to social studies and algebra and calculus? I’m like, are you going to use those in the real world? So f—k school.

“My plan is, right, when I have kids, I’m going to have a tutor that’s going to teach them from the age—at home—from the time, say, maybe, 9am to mid-day or 1pm. And they’ll have an hour of homework, and the rest of the day we’ll just go on adventures doing s—t.”

Israel Adesanya doesn’t want his kids socially isolated

Of course, one of the major problems with having your kids exclusively educated at home is that they don’t get to spend a lot of time around other kids, learning to socialize. Adesanya has a plan for that, however. As far as he’s concerned, his kids can get their socialization through sports.

“But then, they’re going to do gymnastics, compulsory,” Adesanya explained. “Because I want to make sure they know their body; the foundation of athleticism, gymnastics. And Jiu Jitsu, so that they’re involved with other kids and not socially awkward. You don’t want to raise some f—king bum kids who don’t have any social skills. But, I want to make sure that they have those kinds of skills by interacting with other kids through gymnastics or Jiu Jitsu, or other activities. And they’ll do that every day or every whatever days of the week it is.

“But school? Going there, clocking in, sitting down? Watching the teacher write some s—t on the board and write, write, write? No one’s teaching. Literally, some of these people are just there to cash a paycheck. I’ve seen it. I was in school. You just see them there, they’ll write the s—t on the board.”

Israel Adesanya visited his childhood school in Nigeria

While he may not feel that the education system is all that functional or catered particularly well to his needs, that didn’t stop Adesanya from taking some time to go visit the place where his sporting and academic life began, the Chrisland School in Opebi, Nigeria. Adesanya spoke to children there back in 2019, taking some time to reminisce and show off his UFC title belt.

Adesanya is currently set to take on middleweight title contender Sean Strickland at UFC 293 this Saturday in Sydney, Australia. If current betting lines are to be believed, the City Kickboxing star is about to take his opponent to the school of hard knocks.

UFC 293 loses former title challenger

Jump to

• Kai Kara-France out of UFC 293 due to concussion
• Manel Kape gets replacement fight
• Join the new Bloody Elbow

Go back a couple months, and it felt like the UFC was primed to put together a rock solid PPV event for their first return to Sydney, Australia in more than half a decade. Unfortunately for the promotion, the linchpin of their plan revolved around some exceptionally optimistic fight booking.

Just a month and a half ago, the UFC held a middleweight top contender’s bout between Robert Whittaker and Dricus Du Plessis. The intention being that the winner would be ready to face Israel Adesanya for the title belt in early September. A mere two-month turnaround for a massive opportunity.

To the promotion’s luck, Dricus Du Plessis beat Whittaker in spectacular fashion, positioning him perfectly to turn his ongoing war of words with Adesanya into an electric PPV buildup. But, it turns out that the UFC’s ambitious plan was exactly as flawed as it sounded, with the South African notifying the Endeavor-owned sports-entertainment property shortly after his victory, that he would not be healthy enough in time to fight for gold.

Israel Adesanya vs. Dricus Du Plessis was the first big hit to UFC 293. ‘Stillknocks’ getting replaced by Sean Strickland has done little to alleviate that feeling. Now, unfortunately we’ve got another.

Kai Kara-France out of UFC 293 due to concussion

Alongside Adesanya, one of the other major regional draws expected for the card was former interim flyweight title challenger Kai Kara-France. A training partner to the ‘Last Stylebender’, ‘Don’t Blink’ has carved out a reputation as an action-forward fan-favorite over his 11-bout Octagon run. His planned fight against former RIZIN bantamweight champion Manel Kape seemed primed for violence.

On Monday, August 21^st, however—in a video released to his Instagram account—the 30-year-old New Zealander revealed that he had suffered a concussion in training and was forced to withdraw from the bout.

“I just wanted to come on here and give you guys an update,” Kara-France announced. “So, unfortunately, I’ve had to withdraw from my next fight, in Sydney, Australia—UFC 293. I suffered a concussion over the weekend at training and I’ve been speaking to my coaches, my team, and my family, and they all think it’s the right decision to put my health first. Just want to say sorry to all the friends and family that bought tickets and accommodation; all the fans that were excited to see me fight live. I’m gutted that I won’t be a part of this card.

“It’s been a tough week, with my second son being born, as well as me pulling out of this fight; mixed emotions, frustrated. But, I’ve just got to focus on the positives and just spend time with my loved ones. Appreciate the ongoing support and we’ll be back soon.”

Manel Kape gets replacement fight

Fortunately for Kape, he didn’t have to wait long to get a replacement bout to ensure he’ll be staying on the UFC 293 fight card. MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz reports that the UFC has tabbed upcoming Dana White’s Contender Series talent Felipe dos Santos to step in for the injured City Kickboxing star.

At just 22-years-of-age ‘Lipe Detona’ will hit the Octagon with a perfect 7-0 record, fighting out of Charles Oliveira’s Chute Boxe Diego Lima fight team. The Brazilian had been set to take on onetime UFC fighter Edgar Chairez on next week’s DWCS fight card, but instead has his chance to make a huge step up this coming September 10^th. The fight cancellation also appears to have led to Chairez getting another shot with the world’s largest MMA promotion. The Entram Gym talent is now set to take on Daniel Lacerda on the UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs. Shevchenko 2 card next month.

While Kape will still get his chance to show his skills inside the Octagon, that hasn’t stopped the Angolan-born fighter from sharing a few choice words with Kara France over his decision to withdraw from their bout.

He has 3 weeks to recover if this concussion really happened. You bastard https://t.co/2zOEilkYE4

— マネル・ケイプ موسى Manel Kape (@ManelKape) August 21, 2023

@kaikarafrance You piece of shit, you come to my instagram saying "you better show up" and now you give up the fight, you fucking coward…
Another one .

— マネル・ケイプ موسى Manel Kape (@ManelKape) August 21, 2023

Kape has even gone so far as to suggest that fighters who withdraw from bouts too near the actual fight date should suffer extra financial penalties (beyond not getting paid, I guess?) for their decisions.

There should be a punishment for these athletes who give up very close to the fight. The drop in the ranking or financially. Believe that the symptoms of diarrhea would go away as soon as there were these punishments@Mickmaynard2 @danawhite @AliAbdelaziz00 @seanshelby pic.twitter.com/0Ogtaz3DmI

— マネル・ケイプ موسى Manel Kape (@ManelKape) August 21, 2023

It’s an obviously terrible idea, but it’s hard not to have some sympathy for Kape’s plight, as he’s seen six UFC bookings in just 3 years fall apart due to injuries suffered by his opponents. Hopefully Felipe dos Santos stays healthy enough to make it to the cage on fight night.

UFC 293 update: Sean Strickland gives gameplan for Israel Adesanya

Jump to

• Sean Strickland says manager working to finalize Adesanya fight
• Sean Strickland reveals he’s never seen Adesanya fight
• Israel Adesanya still seems stuck on Du Plessis

It seems as though Sean Strickland was handed a gift. The no. 5 ranked UFC middleweight is coming off a dominant TKO victory over relative UFC newcomer Abus Magomedov back in July, his second straight victory, but hardly the kind of high profile win that would seem to have the Xtreme Couture talent primed for title contention.

Israel Adesanya, who Sean Strickland hasn’t seen fight, at UFC 287. IMAGO/ZUMA Wire

However, Adesanya’s continued dominance atop the middleweight division (following a brief bump in the road against Alex Pereira) and Dricus Du Plessis’ apparent inability to be ready for a title fight by September, have left the UFC with no clear top contender other than Strickland. An opportunity he seems primed to take advantage of.

Sean Strickland says manager working to finalize Adesanya fight

Just a couple weeks back, Sean Strickland spoke to MMA reporter Helen Yee about the opportunity to fight for a UFC title. At the time, he made it abundantly clear, that the only thing standing in the way of him taking the bout was money. As long as the UFC was willing to pay, he’d be there.

“Pay me money and I’ll f—king fight him for an hour straight,” Strickland quipped. “Or at least until somebody wakes up or goes to sleep.”

In a more recent interview with media personality Dave Schmulenson (better known as ‘The Schmo’) Strickland gave fans an update on his potential title fight. Starting, of course, with some patented weirdly nationalistic aggression.

“You guys—that little Chinese slut—we’re trying to make it happen,” Strickland explained. “I’m trying to represent for America. I’m trying to represent for Australia. Because, I’ll tell you what Australians, I am more Australian than f—king Izzy. Izzy is a Chinese man. I ride motorcycles, I sail boats, I like sex with hot women.

“Izzy likes sex with dudes. Nothing wrong with that Izzy, it’s personal preference, I’m sure Schmo might be into it. But, I am American, but I’m like Crocodile Dundee, you guys. I carry guns on me, I carry knives. I consider myself an honorary Australian. I mean, I’m a little bit more in the freedom department. I like freedom. You know, you guys are a little questionable there. But, I would like to say that I’m more of an Australian than the Chinese man, Izzy.”

As for how the actual negotiations with the UFC are going? Strickland had a lot less bluster to deliver on that front.

“Guys, we’re working it,” Strickland said, when pressed on the fight. “My [manager] continues over there—he’s out here—we’re working it. We are working it. We’re trying, I’m trying to do it for you guys, we’re trying to make it happen for you guys. And then, once the fight happens, all I gotta do is fight Izzy—which, you know, that’s the easy part, right? Getting the fight is the hard part. Winning the fight’s the easy part.”

Sean Strickland reveals he’s never seen Adesanya fight

While Strickland was no doubt being extremely sarcastic when suggesting that the easy part of getting to fight Adesanya would be beating the man, he had a surprising answer when asked just how he planned to go about finding victory over the ‘Last Stylebender’. Notably that he hadn’t ever really paid much attention to the champ.

“I’ve never really actually watched an Izzy fight. I’ve watched clips of it. I don’t know Schmo, you’ve watched a lot of fighting, what do I gotta do?”

The 32-year-old former King of the Cage title holder went on to admit that he had actually seen one Adesanya fight before, the City Kickboxing star’s war with Kelvin Gastelum. For the moment, that seems to be the only point of reference Strickland is using for his potential gameplan.

“I need to fight like Kelvin,” Strickland revealed. “I need to go d—k to d—k, nose to nose, and I need to have a war. Maybe we takedown, maybe we don’t.”

“I need to be a little bit more on the aggressive side. You know, there’s some times when I’m out there doing my—what’s that girls name? They always make fun of me—that Disney Channel girl? Carly or something?… So, I need to be a little bit tighter, a little bit more up in the pocket. We’re gonna make magic happen, you guys.”

Israel Adesanya still seems stuck on Du Plessis

While it seems like Adesanya is likely headed for a clash with Strickland in Sydney on September 10th in the main event of UFC 293, the Nigerian-born New Zealander still seems like he’s got his sights firmly set on his ongoing war of words with top contender Dricus Du Plessis. Following UFC 290, the two men engaged in a heated staredown with Adesanya making several racially motivated remarks towards Du Plessis, in response to the South African’s ongoing sentiments that he is “the African fighter in the UFC.”

In a recent segment on the Halfcast Podcast run by City Kickboxing teammates Tyson Pedro and Kai Kara-France, the former kickboxing star talked about his face off with Du Plessis and why he felt ‘Stillknocks’ ended up turning down the chance to face him at UFC 293.

“Now he doesn’t want to fight,” Adesanya explained (transcript via MMA Junkie). “Even after, he’s like ‘Oh bro, all you had to do was put some gloves on, we could have got it on right there.’ B—ch ass, f—k you wouldn’t have because guess what? He didn’t want it. When I told him feel me, people were like, ‘Oh, he’s so classy walking away. He’s so classy.’ I’m like, ‘Bro, he didn’t even walk away. He felt me. He didn’t want to feel me. He’s not a scared man – he’s a tough dude. He’s very crafty, and he’s got a good team behind him – smart team.

“I don’t think he’s a scared man, but I’ll tell you he’s scared of me. You know when you look in someone’s eyes, you just know straight away. He didn’t call me into the cage, I stepped in the cage myself. I didn’t even see him call me … I stepped into the cage because I made this s—t happen. This motherf—ker – I hope … I really was hoping he’d f—king step up. But he’s a b—ch, and I’ll tell you right now: Keep training. Keep training. I’ve got something for your ass, so keep training.”

https://soundcloud.com/bloody-elbow-podcast/ufc-291-was-another-phenomenal-ppv-6th-round-post-fight-show?in=bloody-elbow-podcast/sets/all-episodes&si=7109b98697404cb6b94f45247a07de14&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Israel Adesanya’s coach makes nonsense of Dricus Du Plessis’ contender status

Jump to

• Eugene Bareman thinks Du Plessis needs to win again to fight Israel Adesanya
• If not Du Plessis, then who?
• Israel Adesanya still clearly wants to fight Du Plessis

The middleweight division has been starving for fresh title challengers for a minute now. In the years-long chaos following the dethroning of Anderson Silva, Israel Adesanya has emerged as the division’s latest truly dominant king.

Dricus Du Plessis celebrates his win at UFC 290. IMAGO/USA TODAY Network

Other than a brief bump in the road against Alex Pereira last year, the ‘Last Stylebender’ has not only defeated most of the top ten at 185, but he’s done so decisively. Assuming that his upcoming fight with Sean Strickland doesn’t hold any major surprises, he’ll walk into October with victories over everyone sitting above the 8-slot in the UFC’s official rankings. Well, everyone except one man, current no. 1 contender Dricus Du Plessis.

Eugene Bareman thinks Du Plessis needs to win again to fight Israel Adesanya

At this point, Du Plessis is absolutely the man of the moment among the middleweight field. His crushing victory over Robert Whittaker was the kind of statement that no other title challenger seeking UFC gold has been able to make. Add in a whole bunch of heat between he and Adesanya over African heritage, who has it, and what it means, and there’s no question that Izzy vs. ‘Stillknocks’ is the fight fans want to see.

It was the fight we were supposed to see, too, until Du Plessis revealed that he couldn’t accept the booking due to the insanely short turnaround window the UFC was demanding. A move that Adesanya’s coach, Eugene Bareman, says should disqualify Du Plessis from being next in line.

“I don’t make that call. But the problem is, if you don’t step up and take fights, you go into the pool,” Bareman explained in a recent interview with Submission Radio. “That’s a fact. Nothing in this sport is solid until there’s something signed on the dotted line. If he’s got nothing signed on the dotted line, then he’s out there in the ether. He had a shot. He had a shot. It’s the same shot that many of my boys have had who have fought for titles or had titles.

“You never, never—and we’ve fought with horrific injuries, because you don’t take that lightly. And the problem with them is they’ve had an injury. And yeah, it’s been a bad injury. So what? You’ve taken your shot for granted. You think you’re going to get it again. But you don’t know what this machine does. You don’t know the UFC.

“You don’t know what they do. You don’t know how they twist and turn things. Never feel comfortable with where you are. If there’s something in front of you that you’ve been working for your whole life, don’t think for a minute that it can’t just be taken away just like that. And he had it, and he let it slip.”

“So, they can’t be sitting comfortable thinking that they got the next shot. Because they don’t. Because I know this sport. The fact is they don’t. But they did. They never took it. And now they should not be sitting comfortable thinking they got the next shot. Because in this sport, it’s just not true.”

When it comes to the UFC and their ability to break promises and change plans, there’s no question that Bareman is absolutely right. But the question has to be asked…

If not Du Plessis, then who?

As already touched on above, there are no other fighters positioned for a middleweight title shot at this moment. Even Sean Strickland, who is stepping in for the South African, seems like an absolute stretch as a contender, given that he’s getting his shot off a win over Abus Magomedov. The next two ranked fighters that Adesanya hasn’t faced at 185? Roman Dolidze and Jack Hermansson—both men coming off losses.

After that the UFC would have to stretch all the way down to Brendan Allen, Kelvin Gastelum, or… Paul Craig? Long story short, Dricus Du Plessis is unquestionably the top contender in the middleweight division right now, and to think anything else makes no sense at all.

Hell, there’s not even really a fight that it would make sense for Du Plessis to take. Is he going to fight Jared Cannonier and set the ‘Killa Gorilla’ to contend again just one year after his dreadful fight with Adesanya? Marvin Vettori?

The one wildcard in all this is Paulo Costa vs. Khamzat Chimaev and the idea that any one win against a ranked middleweight could propel the Chechen to top contender status. Considering Chimaev hasn’t fought for a year, or fought at middleweight for three years, however, an instant title shot seems like a very generous prediction.

Israel Adesanya still clearly wants to fight Du Plessis

Even with the idea that Chimaev could potentially be the rival contender that Bareman is imagining, it seems like he’s ignoring the clearly stated desires of his own fighter. Ever since Du Plessis started needling the City Kickboxing star over his emigrant status, Adesanya has been vocal in his desire to humiliate the former KSW champion inside the Octagon.

Even as the UFC were looking to finalize Adesanya vs. Strickland for UFC 293, with Du Plessis clearly out of the picture, the Nigerian-born New Zealander’s focus seemed firmly on the fight he wasn’t getting.

“Now he doesn’t want to fight,” Adesanya explained, speaking of Du Plessis on a recent podcast. “Even after, he’s like ‘Oh bro, all you had to do was put some gloves on, we could have got it on right there.’ B—ch ass, f—k you wouldn’t have because guess what? He didn’t want it. When I told him feel me, people were like, ‘Oh, he’s so classy walking away. He’s so classy.’ I’m like, ‘Bro, he didn’t even walk away. He felt me. He didn’t want to feel me. He’s not a scared man, he’s a tough dude. He’s very crafty, and he’s got a good team behind him—smart team.

“I don’t think he’s a scared man, but I’ll tell you he’s scared of me. You know when you look in someone’s eyes, you just know straight away. He didn’t call me into the cage, I stepped in the cage myself. I didn’t even see him call me … I stepped into the cage because I made this s—t happen. This motherf—ker—I hope … I really was hoping he’d f—king step up. But he’s a b—ch, and I’ll tell you right now: Keep training. Keep training. I’ve got something for your ass, so keep training.”

From the sound of things, the 34-year-old former kickboxing champion would absolutely leap at the chance to fight Dricus Du Plessis if the UFC could make it happen. Bareman’s not wrong, the fight game is fickle and the UFC will do whatever it pleases, but if there’s a bigger, clearer, more obvious fight out there for Adesanya than this one, I can’t see it.

https://soundcloud.com/bloody-elbow-podcast/ufc-vegas-78-a-finish-filled-extravaganza?in=bloody-elbow-podcast/sets/all-episodes&si=ad0bf516914c43e1a7a5eace981375f0&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Israel Adesanya’s UFC 293 title fight official

Jump to

• Sean Strickland vs. Israel Adesanya confirmed
• Tai Tuivasa vs. Alexander Volkov to co-main
• Current UFC 293 fight card
• Join the Bloody Elbow Substack!

All the pieces are finally in place for Israel Adesanya to headline UFC 293 this coming September in Sydney, Australia. The now-2x middleweight champion had looked like he was set to take on streaking top contender Dricus Du Plessis for his next title defense, but injury woes have pushed the South African off of Adesanya’s (and more importantly the UFC’s) preferred timeline.

Israel Adesanya at Tribeca. IMAGO/ZUMA Wire

Du Plessis got a career highlight victory over former champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 back in July, after which, the UFC brought the ‘Last Stylebender’ into the cage for a heated verbal confrontation. All systems seemed go for the two men to meet in the fall.

Unfortunately, fears heading into the fight were later confirmed, that a two month turnaround was simply not enough time for Du Plessis to both earn the top contender’s spot and get ready to face Adesanya. Du Plessis needed more time, so the UFC had to find someone else. The next man in line? Sean Strickland

Sean Strickland vs. Israel Adesanya confirmed

By all accounts, Sean Strickland had the look of a very unlikely title contender. The Xtreme Couture talent has had his share of success up at 185, but back to back losses to top contenders (and future champion) Alex Pereira and Jared Cannonier seemed like they’d left the 32-year-old firmly in bridesmaid position for the foreseeable future.

But, that’s the value of a dominant champion. As the list of fresh contenders dwindle, the UFC has to reach further to find new faces. With Adesanya already holding victories over Whittaker, Cannonier, Vettori, Costa, and even Derek Brunson and Kelvin Gastelum, Strickland was one of the few men at middleweight with a number next to his name that the Nigerian-born New Zealander had yet to face.

“What’s up, everybody!? UFC president Dana White here,” the UFC’s head honcho said in a video recorded for the promotion’s social media accounts. “UFC 293 is in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday, September 9th. The main event: Israel Adesanya defends his title against 5th ranked Sean Strickland.

BREAKING: Sydney, your #UFC293 main event is official!! 🚨🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/D2t7xTy8Ns

— UFC (@ufc) August 8, 2023

“This will be Adesanya’s 11th consecutive UFC title fight. What I love about Israel? He’s always ready to take on the best in the world; anyone, anytime. And Strickland is an absolute maniac who doesn’t back down from anyone. This will be a great fight.”

“We haven’t been back to Sydney in 6 years,” White continued. “It’s one of the greatest cities in the world. UFC 293: Adesanya vs. Strickland, Saturday, September 9th. Tickets on sale now, so make your plans today and I will see you at the fights.”

While the booking never seemed terribly in doubt after it became clear that Du Plessis couldn’t make it to the September PPV, negotiations seemed to drag out for a couple of weeks with Sean Strickland pressing the UFC for a pay bump to step in to the title contender’s spot.

“Guys, we’re working it,” Strickland said, when pressed on the fight in a recent interview. “My [manager] continues over there—he’s out here—we’re working it. We are working it. We’re trying, I’m trying to do it for you guys, we’re trying to make it happen for you guys. And then, once the fight happens, all I gotta do is fight Izzy—which, you know, that’s the easy part, right? Getting the fight is the hard part. Winning the fight’s the easy part.”

Tai Tuivasa vs. Alexander Volkov to co-main

Unfortunately, if Australian fans were hoping that the UFC might be bringing multiple title fights or other prestigious international talent to the event for their first Sydney show in more than half a decade, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Serving as the PPV’s co-main event will be an already officially announced heavyweight tilt between Aussie fan-favorite Tai Tuivasa, taking on longtime top-ranked contender Alexander Volkov.

“The co-main event is Tai Tuivasa vs. Alexander Volkov,” White announced. “Top ten heavyweights! Both of these guys have insane power. There will be no judges needed for this fight.”

Tuivasa is currently riding back-to-back losses; the first time in his career that he’s been finished in consecutive fights. Meanwhile, Volkov has bounced back exceptionally from a 2022 submission loss to current top contender Tom Aspinall. Following that defeat, Volkov picked up stoppage wins over Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Alexander Romanov.

“Also on the card: Kai Kara-France faces Manel Kape in a matchup of top flyweight contenders,” White concluded. “Plus, we’ve re-booked Justin Tafa vs. Austen Lane. These two heavyweights faced each other on June 24th and it was a great fight, for about 30 seconds, before Lane accidentally eye-poked Tafa, resulting in a ‘no contest.’ These two wanted a rematch to finish what they started, and we’re giving it to them.”

Current UFC 293 fight card

Here’s how the UFC 293 fight card looks right now:

• Israel Adesanya vs. Sean Strickland
• Tai Tuivasa vs. Alexander Volkov
• Kai Kara-France vs. Manel Kape

• Carlos Ulberg vs. Da Un Jung
• Jack Jenkins vs. Chepe Mariscal
• Justin Tafa vs. Austen Lane
• Mike Diamond vs. Charlie Radtke
• Shane Young vs. Gabriel Miranda
• Tyson Pedro vs. Anton Turkalj
• Jamie Mullarkey vs. John Makdessi

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